With falling sales and shrinking profits, the recurring revenue will be most welcome.
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Tesla wants recurring revenue, discontinues Autopilot in favor of FSD
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Shocking no one
A taste of whats to come as more features become software enable-able
A taste of whats to come as more features become software enable-able
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I see the future of Automobile will be some kind of 100 a month subscription just to be able to start the car.
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Honestly, if the feature actually DELIVERED properly on the promise, I can see people paying $100 a month or more for a safety-validated digital chauffeur, backed by the company being liable for accidents and such.
There's a lot of value there for many people. People paying a monthly fee for what's on offer today though are absolutely suckers buying future promises that have repeatedly failed to get delivered. Nobody should be paying a monthly fee for something that's not accepting liability (and therefore incurring ongoing re-insurance costs and a very strong incentive to have the system perform) IMO. If the company won't put it's money where it's mouth is, you shouldn't trust them.
There's a lot of value there for many people. People paying a monthly fee for what's on offer today though are absolutely suckers buying future promises that have repeatedly failed to get delivered. Nobody should be paying a monthly fee for something that's not accepting liability (and therefore incurring ongoing re-insurance costs and a very strong incentive to have the system perform) IMO. If the company won't put it's money where it's mouth is, you shouldn't trust them.
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Stating the obvious, while making it sound like an announcement to the believers. Classic.
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Welcome? Reminds me of listening to Radio Havana in the 60's, "The ministry announces a 20% reduction in the meat ration, and the people respond 'Yes!'".
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I love how the comments defending the name in response to me in 2018 have aged so poorly.
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$9.99 month fee for remote start. Please note, remote start functionality is required to also start the vehicle locally.
$4.99 a month subscription service to select reverse gear, and $2.99 a month to select drive. $19.99 a month if you would like to unlock highway speeds (75mph) otherwise you are limited to only 45mph. An extra $19.99 a month if you'd like an unlimited top speed.
We will throw in braking for free, but it is going to be $49.99 a month if you want more than 20% brake force and ABS.
$9.99 a month refueling fee to open your gas door. Plus, we are going to tack on an extra $1 per gallon fee for the gas you add to the tank.
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This will hopefully hasten the decline of automobiles and renew interest in public transportation. You can hide the TCO in maintenance costs, but a bill hitting every month? Yeah, screw that.
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I know several people that got FSD thrown in for free in order to entice them to buy a new models. They have been "transfering" it to new cars as well.
It's been a carrot to get people to buy/upgrade. I think this backfires on them.
It's been a carrot to get people to buy/upgrade. I think this backfires on them.
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Liability? Nah, you've got to be an actual luxury car brand to think about sticking out your neck (pocketbook) for your customer.
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I’m reading between the lines of this article that cruise control still works?
Still, removing lane-keeping when all the competition has it is certain to really accelerate Tesla’s volume growth.
Pity for them that the growth is negative, so acceleration might not be ideal.
Still, removing lane-keeping when all the competition has it is certain to really accelerate Tesla’s volume growth.
Pity for them that the growth is negative, so acceleration might not be ideal.
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What a coincidence that FSD(S) sales are part of Elon's bonus structure and this forces more people to pay for it to get basic features!
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Maybe I'm just an old man, but the idea of paying $100/month for my car to steer itself is one of the most preposterous things I've ever heard. Why would I pay for something that's less predictable than me doing it myself?
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Might want to make it more clear in the article that this only impacts new sales - first read through it was hard for me to tell if it included people with autopilot now (if they are planning to remove lane-keeping from already sold cars).
Not having lane keeping (without an absurd subscription fee) seems like a very poor play for them. That's nearly a standard feature on competitors.
Not having lane keeping (without an absurd subscription fee) seems like a very poor play for them. That's nearly a standard feature on competitors.
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Genuine question at the risk of completely missing something: How exactly does putting FSD behind a paywall "resolve the deceptive marketing"?
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The most profitable products are those that allow your customers to externalize costs onto the public.
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For real--this is 1) three goddamn dollars a day 2) substantially more than I pay in gas money.
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Well at least one deceptively named dangerous product is dead. Regulators better come for Fake Self Driving next. And boy are mellonhead and his minions getting desperate as their revenue collapses and the chickens they broke in their drive to move fast are coming home to roost
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Looks like the 8k FSD travels with the owner (purchaser) and not required with each new purchase of a Tesla if you are a repeat buyer. So once purchased that's a constant cost for Tesla.
But $100 a month will take .... 6.66 (repeating, of course) years to reach 8k.
So if people are not buying it because 8k is a ridiculous cost for a half-baked idea then Tesla does need to push units with a subscription.
I've had my little Civic for 15 years now but I don't know what the expected lifetime of a Tesla car is (or how long a Tesla owner will continue to purchase new Tesla's) to make a 6 year+ commitment worth it.
But I wouldn't want FSD anyway so I'm not the market for it.
But $100 a month will take .... 6.66 (repeating, of course) years to reach 8k.
So if people are not buying it because 8k is a ridiculous cost for a half-baked idea then Tesla does need to push units with a subscription.
I've had my little Civic for 15 years now but I don't know what the expected lifetime of a Tesla car is (or how long a Tesla owner will continue to purchase new Tesla's) to make a 6 year+ commitment worth it.
But I wouldn't want FSD anyway so I'm not the market for it.
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It's not going to be long before car buyers go full reactionary to carmakers' subscription-as-a-service model. There are significant reasons for farmers to value well-maintained tractors from the '90s and truckers jump for pre-DEF chugging diesel engines. And it's not merely because they're Luddites.
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The deceptive marketing was for Autopilot, and the response will be "now, we're no longer offering or marketing Autopilot". If you want the features that were previously part of Autopilot, you need to shell out for FSD, currently a lump sum but soon to be subscription.
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Given the actions of Musk, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to paywall the people who paid up front for FSD. Something along the lines of:
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ubercurmudgeon
Ars Tribunus Militum
...and a 20-a-month subscription for pedestrians and cyclists to enable a transponder to carry around so that their cars will try to avoid driving into you.
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The subscription sucks but $99 is a lot easier to swallow than an $8000 up front charge.
As others have said this really helps Elon get to 10 million FSD "subscriptions" so he can get his $1 trillion. Bait and switch on a bait and switch and people just shrug.
Although this moves is actually a lot more profitable for Tesla assuming that they don't get a ton of new lawsuits decided against them when FSD causes an accident.
As others have said this really helps Elon get to 10 million FSD "subscriptions" so he can get his $1 trillion. Bait and switch on a bait and switch and people just shrug.
Although this moves is actually a lot more profitable for Tesla assuming that they don't get a ton of new lawsuits decided against them when FSD causes an accident.
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I think this is great thing. Imagine if a car company with models in high demand had just rolled this out for an innovative new feature? It might be successful. Then other companies would jump on the bandwagon as quickly as possible.
But doing it to try to shore up declining revenue for a company in the process of throwing away its lead, and for a feature that has been derided as unsafe? It will fail spectacularly. Won’t necessarily stop other companies from trying, unfortunately, but the worst case occurs the first time one of these subscription money grabs is successful.
But doing it to try to shore up declining revenue for a company in the process of throwing away its lead, and for a feature that has been derided as unsafe? It will fail spectacularly. Won’t necessarily stop other companies from trying, unfortunately, but the worst case occurs the first time one of these subscription money grabs is successful.
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Elon also reserves the right to brick your vehicle if you refuse to use X or make any comments that he doesn't like.
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The thing that goes unsaid in all of this is that car buyers are paying for these features, whether they use them or not.
You may have to "subscribe" to gain use of these features, but the expense and equipment to provide these "additional cost" subscriptions are carried by the folks who buy artificially de-contented automobiles too. So you get soaked either way, but you don't get soaked for quite as much if you don't subscribe for the built-in, but additional cost, "features."
You may have to "subscribe" to gain use of these features, but the expense and equipment to provide these "additional cost" subscriptions are carried by the folks who buy artificially de-contented automobiles too. So you get soaked either way, but you don't get soaked for quite as much if you don't subscribe for the built-in, but additional cost, "features."
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Alright, sounds like Tesla Financial Services can have all vehicles impounded and attempted operators arrested for accumulation of too many points!
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I'm guessing from your username you're a fellow Brit or at least familiar with British comedy. I will thus suggest this line from Kryten of Red Dwarf:
"Smug mode engaged"
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If it was as safe or safer then me, I would, in a heartbeat if it stayed at this price point.
But it wouldn't, of course. Line must go up.
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